Motors, Exhaust Fumes, and Environmental Pollution

Gasoline engines are shameless machines. They're loud, dirty, and they stink. They burn non-renewable fossil fuels and poison our air with carcinogenic exhaust fumes. Using a motorised vehicle or tool is a personal choice, but everybody suffers the consequences: health risks, a contaminated environment, and catastrophic climate change.

While diesel and petrol engines at least perform useful work in transportation and industry, many other uses are not as reasonably justifiable. Many people care more about personal comfort than environmental concerns. They'd rather sweep the autumn leaves using a leafblower than a broom. They might find the loud engine noise and reeking clouds of exhaust gas a bit annoying, but can put up with them. The severe and lasting impact on the environment, on the other hand, is much more distant and abstract. They don't see or feel that the pollutants they blow into the air will contaminate the atmosphere for centuries. That unpleasant thought is easily brushed aside.

But combustion engines are also used even more frivolously. In motorsports, for instance, gasoline is being burned just for fun. There's no longer any practical benefit to weigh the pollution up against. Motorsports athletes drive around in circles for amusement and competition, while their "sports equipment" poisons the air with noxious exhaust fumes. The racers and spectators treat themselves to a fun day out, at the expense of the environment.

You might consider that to be an irresponsible and reckless waste of gasoline, maybe even despicable and morally reprehensible. Even so, you can't protect yourself from the consequences. Nature doesn't care about fairness or who's responsible, and pollution doesn't observe borders. All of us breathe the same air, but the decision to poison it with exhaust fumes for their personal pleasure is made by the racers alone. They owe nobody an explanation or any accountability for casually destroying our basis of life.

Abgase.org addresses the inconsiderate and aimless use of internal combustion engines, as well as the people who have no qualms about ravaging our environment for their personal comfort or amusement. They go go-kart racing with friends, enjoy a jetski ride on their seaside vacation, mow their lawn with a string trimmer, or charge their phone with a gas-powered generator when out camping. Nobody can deny them the right to beef up their hobbies and pastimes by adding a few motors and burning plenty of fuel, but even those who disapprove of this wastefulness suffer the consequences. We can't protect ourselves against the toxic fumes that pour out of the tailpipes and fill our lungs.

Without a doubt, internal combustion engines are one of the most impressive human inventions and a masterpiece of engineering. Mass production of cars with gasoline engines in the early 20ᵗʰ century caused the demand for the previously unpopular fuel to skyrocket. The discovery of extremely rich oil fields and new refining processes quickly led to gasoline becoming the most abundant, practical, affordable, and efficient energy source.

But combustion engines weren't just a replacement for coal and steam in industry and transportation. Because they were so cheap to run, inventors came up with countless ideas on what else they could be used for. It was obvious that the direct control over their raw power also made them incredibly fun to use. The reaction to opening the throttle is immediate: a loud revving noise, an aggressive rumble, a plume of smoke from the exhaust. It almost seems as if these machines were always predestined to be used for fun and sport.

Mankind's inventive spirit was unleashed. We discovered that almost anything could be made more exciting by strapping an engine to it. We've sealed them up to use them in watercraft, made them smaller to build vehicles for children, built them lighter so we could carry them as a backpack for yard work, attached alternators so we could generate electricity with them, and tweaked their fuels to make them run well even at freezing temperatures. Almost no area of life, no part of the planet, no human activity hasn't been transformed by the introduction of the combustion engine. It has shaped our world and our life.

Today, an estimated 200 million combustion engines are manufactured per year, and an estimated two billion of them are currently in existence around the world. Every child knows what a gasoline engine is, what it sounds and smells like. Teenagers can hardly wait until they're old enough to get their own car or motor scooter. Petrol engines are everywhere. They're one of the most successful inventions in history, and one of humanity's most sought after goods.

But engines don't just fascinate us because of their technological sophistication. They also appeal to our primal senses because, unlike any other machine, they feel almost alive. We hear the engine putter, feel the heat it gives off and the eager vibration of the firing cylinders. It almost seems to be a living, breathing creature—because it is breathing, just the same as us, inhaling fresh, oxygen-rich air and breathing it back out when it's used up. With every twist or pull of the throttle, the engine screams out fiercely, shooting out another cloud of exhaust. No other machine feels so vivid, vigorous, and vibrant.

Regardless of what they're used for: with their purring and rumbling, the unmistakeable, piercing scent of burnt oil and gasoline, and the thick, blue fumes pouring out of the exhaust pipe, running engines in and of themselves are exciting, enchanting, and appealing on a deeply human level. Could this be why we're so obsessed with them, despite the fact that they're destroying the very natural foundations that sustain us?

Today, motors permeate all social classes and age groups. Since the invention of the combustion engine, countless types of motorised leisure activities and motorsports have emerged for people to enjoy themselves with, so long as they manage to silence their guilty conscience. From karting and motocross to jetskis, snowmobiles, skill challenges or soccer on motorcycles, to swimming aids and remote-controlled cars with petrol engines, there's something for every taste and opportunity.

With mopeds and motor scooters, the market even started directly targetting young people. In Europe in particular, millions of teenage boys and girls experienced their first sense of true freedom and mobility on one of the incredibly popular two-stroke scooters. The scooters took them to school, to meet friends, on a night out, or just a joyride. Most allowance money was earmarked for filling up the tank.

A motorcycle helmet was an essential possession for any teenager, if only to be able to ride pillion. The helmet was also a status symbol, it was proudly carried across the schoolyard and into the classroom. When school was out, dozens of pupils would begin warming up their scooters for the ride home. The many small-bore engines would be buzzing like an aggressive beehive and, like every day, the schoolyard would disappear in a blue fog of stifling two-stroke exhaust fumes for a few minutes. Students who were still stuck with using their muscle power instead of gasoline glanced over at the commotion with envy as they unlocked their bicycles.

Motorsports and their aesthetics also started taking hold in society at large. Professional race drivers became major celebrities, their racing gear considered stylish and appealing. Posters of Formula One drivers in their race suits went up on the walls of kids' bedrooms. Combining the elegant engineering of high-performance race engines with the impressive skill and physical performance of the athletes, motorsports were seen as by far the most modern and timely kinds of sport. Even though society grew increasingly aware of environmental concerns, motorsports culture had reached mass popularity and acceptance.

In addition, motorsports also kept becoming more affordable, gradually expanding from the professional leagues down into amateur and leisure sports. More and more people wanted to have some fun with motors in their spare time, and the market started meeting the demand. Rental kart racing tracks opened in most mid-sized towns, and the most popular vacation activities included jetski rides, snowmobile tours, and motor scooter rentals.

Low-threshold motorsports such as motocross became popular, grassroots sports open to all. Open races were held everywhere, and local clubs gave everybody a chance to try out the sport. Trial sessions for children started being offered, giving even the youngest a chance to discover and join the exciting world of gas-powered motorsports.

Over time, many varied subcultures have formed around the recreational use of gasoline engines. Taken together, I call them petrol culture, or gasoline culture in American terms. Others have used the term thrillcraft. Industries emerged around motorised devices and vehicles which were obviously designed for purely recreational use, as well as the protective gear worn while using them—each scene with its own brands, styles, and trends. Clothes which unambiguously reveal their wearers as reckless polluters, and make it clear that they're not ashamed of it.

Still today, petrol culture is ubiquitous and multifaceted, from the teenage girl who likes to take her motor scooter out for a ride, to the professional race car driver. But they all have one thing in common: they value their personal comfort, joy, or thrill more highly than an intact natural environment, other people's health, or, in fact, their own.

Nowadays, combustion engines are more heavily criticised and decried than they had been in the past few decades. The environmental movement, which first attracted major attention in the 1970s, has been steadily gaining steam until today. Feared ramifications of climate change have become reality one by one, and the forecast looks grim. Blatant cases of pollution are more likely to be called out, especially if they seem gratuitous.

Despite that, even in the age of Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion, it doesn't look like petrol culture's popularity is in a noteworthy decline. Walking around the suburbs on weekends, you still hear the revs of gas-powered gardening tools, which are still a popular item at hardware stores. Motorsports are as popular as ever, and clubs are fostering record numbers of young talents. Few of those kids show much interest in the new electric vehicles. Gasoline-driven karts and motorcycles are still what everybody wants to switch over to sooner or later. Likewise for teenagers, the gas-powered scooter is still the real status symbol, despite—or maybe precisely becuase of—the success of electric scooters. And more young people than ever, especially women, are getting their motorcycle licence.

It's paradoxical. We know more than ever about the impacts of petrol exhaust fumes on our health, the environment, and global climate. The long-term damage, caused by all the poison we have already pumped into the atmosphere over the past century, is becoming obvious and undeniable. Climate models are predicting downright apocalyptic scenarios for our future, even if we managed to immediately stop all of our emissions. Yet in spite of all that, as a species, we seem to be incapable of kicking our addiction to gasoline.

Hundreds of millions of people continue to indulge in motorised recreation. The excuse of not having known about, or not believing in, the severe environmental impact is no longer credible. In order for them to enjoy doing what they do, they have to consciously and deliberately suppress their guilty conscience. On their dirtbikes and jetskis, with their lawnmowers and chainsaws, among friends on the karting track, they can't risk any involuntary and unexpected thoughts about the environment bubbling up, lest they could spoil the fun. The plumes of exhaust gas, the pungent stench, and the harmful pollutants are collectively ignored and never brought up in conversation. That way, nobody has to think about or admit how inexcusable and unforgivable it really is to simply release all of this toxic waste into the air.

It's ironic that we use a pinnacle of human intelligence and inventiveness, the internal combustion engine, to destroy our own basis of existence. It shows how difficult it is for the human mind to grasp processes which take longer than its own lifespan. Our brains aren't wired to make decisions which will only pay off far into the future.

Rationally, we understand the severity of the damage caused by air pollution, and know that our environment is already in a dreadful state. We know that we desperately need to reduce our carbon footprint. But these truths are far away from our everyday life and experience. After all, the air outside still seems fresh and crisp, and we can breathe without any problems. Besides, exhaust fumes disperse and waft away so quickly, you can't even see them anymore after a few seconds. So how bad can it really be? Our mind is much better at seeing the immediate benefits, and is instinctively drawn to them: riding a jetski is a lot of fun; it's much more comfortable to take the scooter to university; using the lawn trimmer will save me a bit of time.

Changes since the discovery of crude oil and the invention of the combustion engine happened way too quickly for our species to adapt to the new circumstances through natural evolution. Our instincts have evolved to ensure humanity's survival, but the dangers are no longer the same. We're scared of large predators, disgusted by potentially poisonous insects, and our taste buds warn us of foods that may be toxic. If our species had had the time to adapt its self-preservation instincts, we might have also felt disgust at the smell of gasoline. Unfortunately, most people seem to actually consider it pleasant.

That's how our species was able to become radically estranged from the nature we originated from, and which we still need to survive. Nowhere is this estrangement more plainly visible than in motorsports. We build infernal machines and fill them with crude oil, a highly toxic substance which we extract from deep within the earth, causing great environmental damage in the process. We then use these machines to burn the oil, causing ear-splitting noise and turning clean air into a deadly gas, which we then simply release back into the surrounding air. All of that just to drive a wheel, because we enjoy going fast.

While doing this, the riders are wearing protective gear which is also made from the toxic crude oil. Even the outfit is contaminating nature, spreading microplastics and oozing carcinogenic softeners, and it won't degrade and decompose for centuries. Clad from head to toe in plastic, the riders aren't even recognisable as natural beings anymore. When they put on their helmets, the last semblance of them as a part of nature disappears.

Suddenly, the pollution they cause seems a little less paradoxical. In their padded, plastic armour, they no longer look like beings who depend on an intact natural environment for survival. They're alien bodies, not living in harmony with nature, but protecting themselves against it. Standing there in a cloud of thick, suffocating, oily exhaust fumes which they themselves caused, it almost looks like that was the air composition they naturally belong and feel most comfortable in.

Maybe this outward disguise even helps motorsports athletes silence their guilty conscience and dissociate themselves from their actions. If people can barely discern you as human anymore, let alone recognise you, you have to feel less ashamed for your transgressions. Would the riders feel more shame about desecrating the environment if they had to see their own faces while doing it? If everybody could see that a human being, a specific person, is responsible for the devastation?

Feelings of guilt can also be reduced by committing the evil deed bluntly and out in the open. A person in motocross gear is naturally expected to go riding a dirtbike. They're just fulfilling expectations. Nobody can claim to have been completely taken aback when a figure clad in full racing gear started a loud and polluting engine. People who are bothered by that should just not hang out around people who wear motocross gear, right?

Apparently, we can't hope for evolution or our basic instincts to help protect us from ourselves. Gasoline engines are too exciting and too much fun, while the long-term consequences of the pollution they cause seem too abstract. Therefore, the only remaining hope we have to save the environment is by changing our behaviour and educating future generations.

The indications don't look very encouraging. Indeed, we teach our children about the environment and the climate, and emphasise how important it is that we wean ourselves off fossil fuels. At the same time, young generations continue to be introduced and recruited into petrol culture, consciously or not. Kids are enthralled by motorsports, admire the freedom of motorcycle riding, and wait impatiently for their chance to ride or drive as well.

The impressive machines, the cool outfits, the touch of rebelliousness—there are a lot of things to make the world of motors deeply attractive to young people. Against all reason and common sense, many parents grant them the wish of joining it. Away from public roads, motorsports allow children to drive motor vehicles before they're old enough to get a licence. Motorcycle manufacturers build dirtbikes for children as young as 3 years old—with real gasoline engines! Many children are introduced by parents who are themselves active in motorsports. Friends learn about what they do and become jealous; clubs emerge to offer easy introductions and a way to join. A self-reinforcing cycle which funnels more and more children into the world of motorsports.

Some children and teenagers seem to have chosen a different path. With movements such as Fridays for Future, young people have shown the will to break this vicious cycle, to honour the environment, to treat and protect it better than the generations before them. But the movement could never win over a majority of young folks, and seems to have already passed its peak.

For children who have been introduced to petrol culture, on the other hand, there's usually no way back. Anyone who has been put on motorcycles from an early age, who has felt the power and freedom, the sensation of twisting the throttle, will want to have fun with motors for the rest of their life. Anyone who has been practicing, since early childhood, a sport in which pungent exhaust fumes are just a completely normalised matter of course, will never see them as a major problem. What they will associate with the smell is not the horrors of climate change, but heartwarming childhood memories.

Accordingly, humans aren't freeing themselves from their addiction to gasoline, but carrying the culture forward through the generations, as long as that's still possible. Thoughtless and irresponsible, we have polluted and poisoned the planet that future generations will inherit. But subliminally, we continue teaching them that the destruction of the environment is a problem still far off in the future, and that it's okay to waste gasoline for fun.

Pandora's box is open. Our sense of reason is powerless against our deeply rooted fascination for combustion engines. To stress the urgency of the problem, some are saying that we need to save the environment for our childrens' sake. But a great number of those children have already decided. They don't want us to deprive them of the fun that we ourselves have had. As of today, the youngest generation itself has long since started polluting, ravaging, and poisoning the planet, and their very own future.